


Rituals.

by arurun



Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mugiwara no Ichimi | Straw Hat Pirates As Family, Nakamaship, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Kissing, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:14:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23692954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arurun/pseuds/arurun
Summary: Every household has its customs, every ship has its traditions. It’s no different for these pirates, especially after spending so much time on the same ship.A series of headcanons regarding the daily life of these pirates.
Relationships: Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates
Comments: 25
Kudos: 322





	1. Goodnight Kisses.

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [To brotherhood, for family](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2009472) by [driflew](https://archiveofourown.org/users/driflew/pseuds/driflew), [somefangirl (driflew)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/driflew/pseuds/somefangirl). 



**_Don’t let the Bed Bugs Bite._ **

-

It started from Makino. 

She’d give Luffy a little kiss on the forehead before bedtime, and Luffy would snigger shyly. He kept asking for one every night, so eventually it became routine. 

Then Luffy was brought up to Dadan’s house.

Call him childish if you must, but Luffy never gets a good night’s sleep without a good night’s kiss. 

He pouted until the day Makino came to visit. She gave him a little kiss on the bridge of his nose before leaving-- and Sabo had the brightest idea.

“Hey, Makino-san! Can I have one too?”

Ace blushed the brightest red when Luffy got his, and when Sabo asked for one, he swirled on him with a look of utter betrayal. “What are you  _ doing _ , Sabo!”

Makino, of course, loves children. So she crouched down and smiled. “Of course, Sabo-kun,” she said-- and cradling Sabo in the face, she gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead.

And Sabo all but  _ sparkled _ . Sure, he was the one that asked for it, (it’s hella embarrassing but Ace’s little crush on Makino is funny,) but it was just… really nice. 

His real mom never did that for him.

Sabo turned to Ace. “You should ask for one too.”

“HELL FUCKING NO?!?”

-

Luffy pecked Sabo on the cheek. 

Ace was brooding in the corner.

“Don’t worry about him,” Sabo side-eyed Ace, “he’s too  _ shy _ for this, Luffy.”

Ace picked up his staff. “Sabo, come fight me outside.”

“Look, now he’s angry!” Sabo grinned.

“Angrrryy!!” Luffy echoed cheekily.

Ace bonked them both over the head.

-

The trend continued. 

If it wasn’t Luffy, it was Sabo. Ace would always scowl when Luffy begged for one, and then he’d seethe when Luffy gave him one.

It was chaste. Nothing more, nothing less.

The first time Ace gave one, it was after Sabo died at sea. Luffy was inconsolable. It’s been too many days since any of them had any sleep.

So Ace leaned over and planted one dear, meaningful kiss in between Luffy's eyes.

Luffy stopped crying for the first time in weeks.

-

When Ace finally left the island, Luffy gave him the sloppiest, biggest kiss on the cheek.

Ace smiles instead of frowning, and ruffles his hair, giving him one last kiss to the forehead.

-

The Strawhat pirates never really questioned it. 

Of course, Nami gave some unholy squeaks the first time, but all yelling fell on deaf ears once they realized Luffy just wasn’t worth explaining to.

It was sweet.

“I told you, I only accept kisses from girls,” Sanji reminded him as he prepared Usopp’s night watch snack. 

“Okay,” Luffy said, snickering. “Then, I’ll go to bed. Good night, Sanji!”

Sanji turned around just in time for Luffy to peck him on the cheek before running off.

He sighed, but smiled. 

Luffy made his rounds every night. Eventually Nami started giving him pats on the head, and Zoro would give him one back if Luffy bowed his head. Chopper would nuzzle against him, Sanji would smile, and Usopp would cheerfully tell him a story. 

Robin, Franky, and Brook take the little nighttime ritual in stride. They’re adults, after all. If their captain wanted to protect them from bad dreams, who were they to stop him?

The reactions varied.

It wasn’t a matter of what it meant or whether it was actually necessary. Luffy just liked to do it, and there was no real reason to say no to it. 

-

When Luffy gave one to Vivi, Carue bit him.

Vivi made sure to give him one back before she said goodbye.

-

Before Sabo left, he leaned down and gave his brother one last kiss on the forehead.

Robin giggled at that. 

Zoro reminds them that Ace did that too, in Arabasta.


	2. "No Stairs" day.

**_I’ll Count the Steps you Take._ **

-

They were still in East Blue when this happened.

Nami was looking at the map and the compass at the same time, walking down the stairs and trying to focus-- then she slipped.

Everyone snapped around immediately when they heard her fearful but short shriek.

Zoro had been sleeping at the bottom of those very steps. When Nami lost her footing, he shot forward, and caught her, cushioning her fall with an arm under her skull and half of himself under her torso.

Everyone had a moment to breathe a sigh of relief.

Then Zoro snapped.

“Be  _ careful _ !!” he had shouted in such a fierce tone-- his words often had heat in them, but never like  _ this _ . Even Sanji couldn’t bring himself to scold the mosshead for yelling at a girl. “You could have cracked your skull open! Are you trying to die?!”

That was probably the only time Nami ever allowed Zoro to yell at her.

Zoro had never looked so scared before.

-

Chopper was new to the ship, but he really didn’t expect to suddenly be scooped off the stairs and set on the ledge. He was just trying to get downstairs.

“Not today, Chopper,” Usopp reminded him, but didn’t elaborate further.

Every three weeks, on Tuesday, they have a ‘no-stairs’ day. 

No climbing up, no going down, no sliding on the rail, nothing. You can’t climb the net ladder to the crow’s nest, either, so only Luffy or Nami (and later Robin and Brook) can get up there on those days. 

Of course, emergencies are exceptions, but if the day is ever set aside, they always find the next day to reschedule. 

It was an important day for Zoro.

So even though none of them really understood the reason behind it, it was still important.

-

“Lunch is ready, fellas!”

Law sighed. He stood up, watching the motley Strawhat crew canter through the lawn. Mugiwara-ya himself decided to swing right onto the second floor.

Then the strangest thing happened. 

Chopper changed into his Kung-fu Point just to jump up across the ledge. Robin made herself a rope with her hands. A high stride like that is nothing for an ex-thief like Nami, so she hops right up. Brook and Franky follow her.

“You're not going, Torao?” Usopp asked him.

Law had a brow raised. “Why can’t you guys just use the stairs like normal people?”

Usopp laughed. “You can just  _ room _ yourself up, can’t you?” he mimed the hand gestures. “Don’t mind us. C’mon, we gotta get up there or Luffy will eat everything!”

And Usopp goes through the effort of using a climber hook to reach the second floor.

What’s wrong with this crew?

Law is a sane man. So he decided to walk down the steps on his way out.

“No!” Suddenly Luffy was before him, cheeks puffed up like a child and arms stretched to block off the stairs all the way. 

Law raised an eyebrow. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Just then, Nami stepped out of the galley, and hopped down the ledge again.

Law sighed. “Nevermind, I get it,” he raised his hand, “whatever this is, it’s some unspoken rule you guys do that you don’t want me breaking. Is that it?”

Luffy nodded firmly.

“Room.”


	3. Renewing Brotherhood.

**_A Toast, to Brotherhood._ **

-

+1

Ace and Luffy knocked their cups together, and downed it in one meaningful gulp. They smiled at the one remaining cup on the tree stump, and threw its contents into the sky.

_ To brotherhood. _

-

+3

Sabo was never quite sure why.

But red. It had to be red, or it wouldn’t be fine. Just one cup is enough, but he had to toss two servings for the ones that he couldn’t be there for. 

They weren’t near enough to the sea, so he tossed it out the window when no one was around. Then he drank the last one, and for the first time since he lost his memories, things just felt so  _ okay _ now.

“What are you doing, Sabo?”

He tries vainly to hide the bottle from Koala. 

“I’m telling Dragon!”

“NO!”

-

+7

Luffy drank his share alone. Dadan had screamed bloody murder after realizing he stole one, but Luffy just chuckled and ran faster. Years of Garp’s lessons did pay off, after all!

“Give that back, Luffy!! You don’t even LIKE sake!”

There are only two cups left on the stump. Ace took his cup with him out to sea, but Luffy still pours the share for the extra cup, once for Sabo and once for Ace, and tosses it into the air, as they would always do.

He threw it back, and as always, his face scrunched at the bitter taste.

-

+8

“What are you doing, Ace?”

Ace stiffened. Maybe being caught in the pantry by the chef of the ship you’re prisoner on isn’t the best idea. 

Ace hid the cup behind him, and held the bottle before him.

“None of your business,” he hissed.

“It is when you’re in my kitchen. You’re not eating the food we give you, and you’re stealing from the pantry at an ungodly hour of the morning,” Thatch said, slightly humoured. “Still don’t trust us?”

Ace marched right out. “I’m not going to be your brother.”

He poured himself a cup on the deck. Toasting toward the sea, he downed it.

_ I’m not going to stop here, Luffy. _

-

+9

“Can I join you?”

This time, a year later, Thatch brought them a bottle. Ace was almost embarrassed. He was thinking of how to steal one, because Thatch knew all his tells by now and thieving wouldn’t be as easy.

Marco looked over. “What’s that for?”

Thatch shrugged. “To commemorate the day our brother first stole a bottle from our pantry just to toss two cups into the sea.”

Marco raised an eyebrow at that.

“Oh shut up, you,” Ace snatched the bottle from the man, blushing slightly. Then softer, “you were watching?”

Ace reached into his pants, and showed them the red sakazuki cup. “You’ll have to get your own cup, though,” he tells them.

“Awh man. Are green tea cups fine?”

“Whatever, dude. It’s just a toast.”

_ To brotherhood, old and new _ .

-

+10

“Why do you want a bottle? You don’t even like sake all that much.”

“I  _ need _ one! Please, Sanji?”

Well, it wasn’t meat, and they’ve gotten quite a few after restocking on Arabasta... So Sanji handed him one of the cheaper ones which Luffy said was good enough for him.

“But  _ you _ get to tell the Marimo he has to cut down on his daily portions, alright?” Sanji reminded him.

Luffy nodded, “that’s okay!”

And the boy sauntered out of the galley. 

Sanji resumed chopping his leeks. Then he stopped, and out of pure curiosity, he followed the boy out the door… and there he found Usopp and Nami, both looking out from the garden, their eyes following the captain down to the deck lawn.

Even Zoro, Chopper and Robin have an eye on him.

Luffy took out a red sakazuki cup from his pocket, and set it on the rails of the ship. Decorking the bottle of sake, he poured out one portion, and tossed it into the sea. He poured out another, and into the sea it went again.

Zoro stood up, brows raised. He didn’t fancy tossing perfectly good sake out like that, but no one spoke up. 

Finally, he poured out a third cup, and raised it into the air.

For a short moment, he closed his eyes-- like he was praying. Then he downed it in one shot, and smiled.

“What are you doing, Luffy?” Chopper had come up to the boy. 

Luffy grinned. “Wanna join me?” 

He turned to the others.

-

+11

It’s quite fortunate that Rayleigh oftens brings sake with him. The Maiden Island has plenty, and Rayleigh’s as much of an addict as Zoro.

Luffy asked to borrow it (because it’s impossible to steal from Rayleigh, Kenbunshoku and all) and snuck off to the corner of the island, near the sea.

It’s practiced motion by now. Pour one out, toss it. Pour the second, toss it. It’s always right to serve the elders first, wasn’t it?

“This is the first time I’m  _ really _ alone when I do it,” Luffy whispered. He bit back a little tear-- and sucked all the sadness back in. 

He’s not crying anymore. He has to move on.

The sake was especially bitter that day, and the cup was strangely heavy in his hands.

-

Nami drinks in the moonlight. Haredas watches from afar.

Mihawk and Perona join Zoro in a toast, though only one of the three know the true depth of meaning behind it.

Usopp has been asking Heracles’n for a bottle for ages. They take a bottle from his secret brew underground, and toast to it together.

Chopper finds a bottle within the mountains of shiny stuff the birds have. He drinks it by himself, but the novelty is always there.

Robin finds Koala in her room, and they drink their portions together. Sabo isn’t here with them-- he has better company tonight.

-

Franky only hears of it from the others, but he thinks it’s important he does it, too.

He sits by the fire and enjoys it with Kitton’s grandfather, where they speak of old stories, long-lost comrades, and of the amazing shipwright named Tom, someone whose code of life Franky will always live by.

Brook hasn’t been in the crew long enough to truly understand the weight of that tradition, but he understands fully the weight of the comrades on his shoulders. 

When he toasts, it’s not only to Ace, or Luffy, or the crew. It’s to Yorki and Laboon as well as everyone else in the Rumbar pirates. 

-

Sabo sat in the treehouse. Their treehouse. The red cup had been there for years, yet it was in pristine condition, new and beautiful and taken care of with so much love.

Two cups go to the air, and the last cup, he drank.

If the mountain bears heard his cries, they left him to mourn.

-

+12

It’s right after the battle on Fishman Island, when they’ve made their hasty escape.

Shirahoshi swam in on them pouring out a bottle of sake in a dozen different cups. Most of them were various tea cups of different sizes, save for the one red sakazuki cup before Luffy.

“You want one too, Jinbei?”

“I’ve exchanged it with Ace before. If you wouldn’t mind, I would be honoured to join.”

Luffy poured out another into the little teacup.

“Wait, you guys, if you want some sake, we could have it at the banquet,” one of Shirahoshi’s brothers sighed. 

Luffy tossed two cups to the sky, and one on the deck for Sunny.

Then they all knocked their cups together and drank.

_ To Family. _

-

“See that, Ace? That’s our little brother right there.”

Sabo pours the sake into the cups. One is Ace’s-- the cup the Whitebeards salvaged for him, and put before his tombstone.

Sabo poured out one for Luffy, and tossed it to the air.

He poured one out for Ace, and dumped it over his grave.

It wouldn’t be polite to drink in front of an elder without sharing, so he poured one out for Whitebeard too. 

“Mind if I join you?”

Sabo turns around to see a Whitebeard pirate, holding out a cup of his own. Sabo can’t help but chuckle at that, hands automatically moving to fill his dish.

He knocks their cups together, and they drink.

“By the way, I’m Sabo.”

“Nice to finally meet you. I’m Marco.”


	4. Sick-people Protocol.

**_And we’ll Kiss it Better._ **

-

Chopper turns into Heavy Point. 

“For the last time, Luffy! Usopp is sick, so you can’t go in!” he roars at his Captain, and Luffy goes tumbling down the deck.

The Captain gets up and makes the most offended noise. 

“You’re going to get sick too and I don’t have enough supplies to treat TWO of you!” Chopper yells. He turns back small. “Next time you come in here I’m tying your foot to the figurehead!!” 

The door slams.

Luffy throws a tantrum.

-

Ever since Nami got deathly sick in Little Garden, Luffy’s been restless.

Getting sick is a normal thing on a ship. Sometimes it’s from the rapidly changing weather, sometimes it’s an infection from a rusty sword, other times it’s muscle strains or sea migraines-- nothing big.

But he’s only seen deathly sick situations twice.

(Maybe it was something in the D blood that meant Ace never got sick, too. But Sabo lived in Gray Terminal, so he was bound to catch something eventually. And once was enough to throw the whole Dadan house into mass panic.)

“Shitty captain, it’s lunchtime.”

Sanji greets him with a foot on the rubber’s head. Luffy’s eyes are still stuck to the infirmary door, as it had been for the last two or so hours.

“Could you bring it here, Sanji?” Luffy asks.

Sanji sighs, setting down a huge plate of meat on the railing. “Already did.”

“Yay! Thanks, Sanji!” and he leaps up, dining in immediately.

Sanji takes a drag of his cigarette. “You know camping out here isn’t going to get you inside, right? Chopper doesn’t want us catching that cold.”

Luffy pouts, “but he let us in every other time!”

“Only if we can’t catch it,” Sanji corrects him.

Luffy sits down defiantly, head on the door, “then I’m staying here.”

Sanji sighs.

-

Zoro’s injuries are often the worst of the lot. 

Nami wakes up one morning, and she already hears the periodical  _ swish, swish _ , of Zoro and his ridiculously large dumbbells.

“Huh?” she looked over, “Zoro, you’re awake early for once.”

Zoro grunts. He swings it forward once, twice. 

“Two million, one hundred and sixty-seven thousand, nine hundred and eighty-one--” he brings it up and swings it forward again, “two million, one hundred and sixty-seven thousand, nine hundred and eighty-two…”

Nami does the math very quickly.

“GO AND SLEEP!!” she yells, throwing a barrel at him. 

-

Zoro’s asleep all the time, but when he’s injured, he sleeps just a little more, and people disturb his naps a little less.

So it’s a day after Arabasta, it’s particularly warm out.

Nami is drawing maps in her room, Robin is reading, and Sanji is in the galley. 

Luffy is slumped over Zoro’s lap, snoring. Chopper is piled on top of Luffy’s back and leaning into Zoro’s chest. Usopp is sleeping by Zoro’s leg, an arm draped over their captain’s stomach. 

Zoro’s actually awake, but with all these idiots on top of him, he can’t sneak off to train.

“Dammit, get off me,” he grunts out. 

He doesn’t want to wake up Chopper because the doctor’s been pretty stressed out these few days, but god, this is stifling.

“Why are you guys sleeping on me anyways?”

Usopp raises his head, “Captain’s orders.” Then he goes back to sleep.

Zoro wants to kick him, but he can’t move.

-

Sanji breaks his foot, so he’s sentenced to bedrest in the makeshift infirmary, which is also Nami’s drawing room.

He expects the silence, the smell of ink, and a few days in dim light. Luffy can’t come in because he once made a mess and ruined a few maps, so Sanji’s got peace.

What he doesn’t expect is for a whole bunch of hammocks to be strung around when he wakes up. It’s the middle of the night, and all the boys have already moved in for the night, even Zoro is in the corner, snoring.

Luffy is sprawled over him, and Chopper is using his not-injured leg as a hug-pillow. 

He looks over and sees Nami, leaning against the wall and the table as she sleeps. Robin is on the desk with a dim light on, reading a book. She spots him, and smiles.

Sanji can’t help but fall in love all over again.


	5. Souvenirs.

**_There’s a Piece of you with Me._ **

Robin comes back from Baltigo with a little bonsai of a sakura tree. 

She had been taking care of it for a little more than a year, when one of the Revolutionaries came home from one of their raids with it. Apparently it’s a rare breed of the tree, one that could sustain against New World climates.

Chopper had never seen a real Sakura tree before, so at first, he was surprised by the brown, autumn colour of the leaves. 

When a spring island finally came by, he squealed with joy, dragging everyone from all around the ship just to admire his little, precious sakura tree.

Chopper loves it with all his heart. Now the bonsai sits at the window of the infirmary, with plenty of sunshine, lots of love, and the vase is labelled with just one name.

**_Doctor._ **

-

Kuraigana’s mansion is old and torn, but everything inside is rather intact. 

Zoro wanders about one day, _definitely not lost at all_ , he will insist when Perona finally locates him, and he chances upon the library.

It’s full of books, and to his surprise, they’re not covered in dust. There are plenty of dusty rooms in this abandoned mansion (Zoro’s current room was hastily cleaned to prevent infections) but the library, a huge expanse, was clean.

He didn’t understand well, but the books were flippable and didn’t fall apart, so he reckoned they were of decent condition.

He considers a few of them. He doesn’t know shit about books or whatever, but he asks Mihawk if he could take some home for Robin.

Turns out, Mihawk has read all of them, and he has recommendations.

-

The Torino Kingdom birds are pretty possessive over their shiny stuff, but for Chopper, they’re willing to make an exception.

Chopper doesn’t want to take advantage of that kindness, so he only grabs a handful of the less shiny but still very valuable treasures. 

There’s a pocket watch in the midst, and it works as a stopwatch, a timer, and rings in this gentle chime as an alarm. 

The swirly patterns remind him of Sanji. It’s in good condition, so he brings it back hoping their cook would like it as a souvenir.

Chopper’s feet are light and his heart is fluttering, because now Sanji carries it around everywhere he goes. He uses it in every meal, even though he’s skillful enough to know exactly when things are done by instinct.

The gentle chime wakes Sanji up every day, and by far, it’s his favourite sound in the world.

-

Nami’s always been pretty decent at sewing. Bellemere wasn’t one for sexist norms, but she made sure Nami and Nojiko knew their way around a needle and the kitchen.

In her two years spent on Weatheria, she never had a real need to use either of those skills. She often offered to make dinner for Haredas instead, but Haredas was always more than happy to make her dinner as the norm.

She wants to repay him somehow, so she starts thinking.

The old men of Weatheria aren’t particularly materialistic, so giving them treasures or valuables don’t matter much to them. They were more interested in their research progress.

But if there was something all of them wanted-- it was attention. There were women and children on the other side of the island, but none near the research centres. 

Nami was the first, and all grandparents love to spoil their grandkids-- even if they didn’t have grandkids or kids in general.

If there was anything Nami could do that they would wholeheartedly enjoy, it was act like a child, like a daughter to her few dozen fathers.

So she sews a whole gallery of cute little dolls in their image, down to the little wrinkles to the frowns to the obnoxious grin on Haredas’ face. She made sure to sew the patterns on the clothes, too, and left them in her room so Haredas could find them as a surprise.

There was just too much scrap cloth leftover, so she used them all to make one last patchwork doll, just like how Bellemere would make their stuffed bears and rabbits when they were younger. It wasn’t as pretty as the rest, but the heart was what mattered.

Let’s just say Brook was over the moon when Nami handed him that little whale plushie.

-

Luffy was never one to worry about the girls on the crew, but he’s been thinking about it while he was still on the run in Maiden Island.

Hancock is like Robin, tall, and their hair is long and black and straight. It reminds him a little of Makino.

Then he thinks back to Nami. Her bounty poster, and during Sabaody… hmm… it’s subtle, but certainly, compared to the time at Cocoyashi, Nami’s hair was definitely getting longer. 

Is it going to keep getting longer?

He remembers the old days, when Makino would line the three of them up to give them a trim when their hair got a little too long. On the Sunny, it was usually Usopp or Robin that fixed their hair. Except Zoro’s. Zoro’s hair apparently doesn’t grow.

Elder Nyon hated it when Hancock came around, but some of the other girls often came by to visit. Luffy always needed some actual human practice, especially after Rayleigh deemed him trained enough and left to Sabaody.

“She has curvy, orange hair, like Marigold?” Sandersonia asks, slightly amused. “Does she put it up? Or does she leave it down?”

Luffy shakes his head. “It’s short. Or was short. But her mom had long hair, so she wanted to keep it long.”

“But long hair is a hassle, especially on a pirate ship full of boys,” Marguerite sighs. 

She and Alphelandra had only recently been accepted as a Kuja Pirate, and if it weren’t for her seniors’ guidance, their hair would be chaos. 

Then she flashes with an idea. “That’s right!” and everyone turns to her, “let’s give your female crew members a present, shall we?”

That day on Sabaody, Luffy’s gigantic bag of lunchboxes contained one smaller, hidden parcel. 

Tied in with a bunch of Kuja-patterned hair ties and little ornaments (Nami loved gold, but she preferred simple ornaments that were reminiscent of her humble upbringing,) along with hair products and creams (they cut down on the aromatic stuff because apparently Luffy had a raccoon reindeer with a sensitive nose.)

Luffy was told to take extra _extra_ care of the bag.

Nami was more obsessed by the aspect of how much these specialty Amazon Lily products could gain her if she sold it.

...Or so she says, but Luffy spots it in the bath one day, precious and used carefully-- and he can’t help but smile, glad that she liked the present after all.

-

Sanji’s two years of training in hell had its perks.

Momoiro Island may be one hell of a place, but even hell has its gems and its histories. Sanji would find secret lairs and caskets around the place, though nothing was valuable. He wasn’t interested in stealing Ivan’s gold, anyways.

Everything here was sentimental.

From libraries of records to biographies and documentaries, this island was far more ancestral than it originally appeared.

There was already a picture on the wall of him begrudgingly eating lunch with them, the bottom of the picture was signed cursive with _Sanji-kyun♡_ on it. He wanted to tear it up, but he relented and put it back on the wall.

More in the pictures are of the rest of them, usually with a strange visitor that soon becomes one of the monsters in the pack.

(Yikes, following the trend, Sanji’s next in the sacrificial list. No fucking way.)

There are a few exceptions. 

He picks out a picture from the top, and unmistakably, that’s _Gold Roger_. It’s like a little cafe, where they took pictures of their visitors and framed it up to make a memorial. This was just a hidden gem among many.

 _The Sun pirates and little Koala._ Oh hey, isn’t that Arlong? Koala must be the adorable little girl in the center… 

_The Pirate Empress with a Temper._ She’s beautiful but young, smiling proudly at the camera though tears are in her eyes.

_Tom’s workers._

His jaw drops. Franky isn’t there, but Iceburg is, along with a large, yellow-skinned fishman he’s sure is Tom. Grandma Kokoro beamed happily at the camera, looking much more beautiful than Sanji last remembered of her. Yokozuna is but a little frog here, fitting easily on Iceburg’s head.

He takes it.

Surely Ivan wouldn’t mind him stealing just one picture.

(Cue Franky sobbing in gratitude.)

-

Franky begins his workshop by separating and organising the weapons blueprints. 

There are some things that just aren’t in his field-- he might be more skilled than Usopp in both shipwrighting and mechanics, but Usopp was the craftsman for entirely unique weapons only he could come up with.

As a result, Franky first separated the strange weapons that he couldn’t make heads or tails of, and anything that didn’t seem like it could fit the framework of a ‘super cool’ machine.

Like these night vision goggles that operate on echolocation, or the boots that made him capable of striding across the sea’s surface like a water spider.

He doesn’t understand them, and they sound pretty interesting, too. But that’s fine. 

He’s not Cutty Flam, stubborn little battle tank maker that wanted to do everything he could by himself and everything he couldn’t do was pointless.

Now he’s a Strawhat pirate, and whatever he can’t do, someone else certainly can.

Usopp, like he expected, was absolutely ecstatic at the blueprints.

-

Heracles'n is a very resourceful man.

Not as resourceful as Usopp himself, but resourceful indeed.

Heracles’n shows off his hidden winery underground, and they pop a bottle to celebrate Usopp’s birthday, his mom’s death anniversary, the New Year’s, and Hercles’n’s friend’s death anniversary, and whatever else event they can think of is an excuse to drink.

Usopp probably got a few times stronger in alcohol tolerance throughout the two years, just because they kept sampling Hercles’n’s wine experiments.

(The man never had a friend to drink with before, after all. He was overjoyed.)

They make wine together in their free time when they aren’t training or studying, and when Usopp leaves, he gets to keep the best of the batch.

Usopp hasn’t seen Zoro for two years, but he doesn’t remember the last time he saw the guy look so happy over a gift.

-

Brook never has a lot of free time, and he’s rarely ever allowed to be alone on their tragic musician journey on the streets.

But one day, his manager signs him for an outdoor live show, and before that, he has a little space of time to wander as long as he stays in sight.

Brook takes a walk around the plaza, around the little shops that sell vivre cards, log poses, and all other Grand Line essentials.

He was rather interested in the three-needled log pose, but decided not to ask about it. Maps… well, Nami-san would prefer to draw her own…

Then he stumbles upon something rather interesting.

It’s an Eternal Pose, and the label says GOA. When he asks the shopkeeper, he finds that it’s a big kingdom in East Blue.

He’s not sure what impulse drove him to buy it, but he kept it with him, and decides to give it to Nami when they meet up again.

Nami, to everyone’s surprise, takes one look at it and hands it to Luffy.

And Luffy _squeals_ with childlike joy.

The next time Brook sees it, the label has been changed. Usopp had sanded down the letters, and carved in new ones, though it’s a little crude. 

It reads _Dadan_ now, and well, Brook is just glad that they like it.


End file.
